Cyber 0
by kur0nek0sama
Summary: Uh..... I lost Chapter 6... so here's chapter 7. oO
1. Hope/Fear

Cyber 0   
Chapter 1 : Hope/Fear   
  


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Author's Notes: Help me think of a title.......... AHHHHH!!!! Well.. er... Heh. It's short, I know. I can never seem to write for long periods of time, so I ight meld this into two chapters... somehow... Like add another chapter on it and make it all one.. *rambles*  
  
I suck XD   
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At the sight of the warm glow coming from Adrian's apartment, Lucas's heart stopped. The chaos and destruction around him vanished as he stared up at the window hopefully before opening the door into the apartment lobby. Without bothering to press the elevator call button, he sprinted up the stairs towo at a time, each flight bringing him one step closer to finding the truth.  
  
The truth.  
  
Lucas stopped midstep on the way to the last floor. If Adrian- Cybersix- was alive... He found himself smiling softly. But, what if she wasn't there? What if the explosion- the horrible, earth-shaking explosion that had destroyed most of Meridiana- had destroyed her, too? He felt his heart give a painful lurch as he once more began to climb the remaining set of stairs.  
  
At last, clutching the painful stitch in his side, he opened the stairwell door into the hallway to Adrian's apartment. The glinting gleam of the "4-A" on the door seems to wink at him in the light, teasing him. Lucas drew in a ragged breath, and turned the doorknob. It was unlocked, which was unusual, and Lucas slowly pushed against it.  
  
The room was in darkness, except for the lamp on Adrian's desk, which was on. He heard a low growl, and turned to see Data 7 on Adrian's bed, eyes shining through the dim light.  
  
"Data 7... It's me, Lucas... Where's Cybersix? Has she come home?" Lucas was vaguely aware how stupid he must look, talking to a panther. He then realized that he was waiting for a response... which was highly unlikely. Unable to look Data 7 in the eye, he began to search the rest of the apartment, checking in the closet- where he found her costume, ripped and torn. His heart had now turned into a cold lump in his chest. He turned back to look at Data 7, who had moved off of the bed and was staring out the window.  
  
"What is it?" Lucas asked the black wildcat, who continued to stare outside. Data 7's ears began to twitch... listening. The panther turned to stare at Lucas, an odd look on his face.  
  
Lucas held Data 7's gaze... finding that Data 7 wasn't looking at him; rather, something BEHIND him.  
  
Lucas hesitated, scared yet curious of what was behind him. He finally turned around to face the figure in the open doorway.   
  
Cybersix, dressed in Adrian's shirt and pants, shut the door behind her.   
  



	2. Embrace

Cyber 0   
Chapter 2 : Embrace   
  


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AN: I'm rather proud of this chapter. it's longer, has some emotional havoc and confusion, and I'm going to get unlazy and make a fanfiction.net account. X   
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Cybersix felt the tears beginning to well up in her eyes as she saw Lucas standing in her apartment in Data 7. She rubbed her eyes briskly before moving towards him so that they were only a few feet apart. She found herself unable to look him in the eye. She knew that if she did, she'd break down completely.   
  
"Lucas." Her voice broke as she said his name. _Stop it,_ she thought it herself in frustration. _You don't need this right now. He might be able to help you..._ At this thought the tears overflowed, streaming down her face. She felt arms going around her, and she tensed. She frantically wiped the tears off of her face, and hesitantly pulled out of his grasp. She slowly made her way to the apartment widow, where data 7 sidled up next to her and nudged his face against her leg. She stared out at the broken city, her home.   
_He doesn't know what happened, Data 7. He does't know what happened in the lab... What we saw._ Data 7 nudged her leg once more, looking up at her.   
  
_Sister, he deserves to know. He's confused enough as it is... And so are you. I can tell._   
  
Cybersix didn't answer, instead, she continued to look out at the growing darkness; the beauty of sunset clashed with the smoking ruins of the better part of Meridiana. She could sense Lucas behind her, and she finally spoke.   
  
"I owe you an explanation." She turned around to face him, and found herself nose to nose with him. "Von Reichter is dead."   
  
Lucas looked at her blankly. "Well, that's good, isn't it?" Cybersix sighed.   
  
"Not nessecarily. No Von Reichter means less Fixed Ideas. I highly doubt Jose will be able to figure out how to create them on his own. And less Fixed Ideas means-"   
  
"Less sustenance," finished Lucas, understanding the seriousness of the problem. "And once you kill Jose, there won't be any left." He frowned. "But that means-"   
  
"Don't even say it, Lucas. I didn't have high hopes for my survival even when Von Reichter was alive. That's only half of my problems." She felt his arms once more go around her, and she didn't fight the emotions going on inside her. She wrapped her arms around him, bracing herself for what she was about to say to him next.   
  
"Lucas- there's another one out there."   
  
"What? Another what?"   
  
"Another Cyber." She felt his arms tense around her. "When I was in Von Reichter's lab.. When we heard the alarms going off, Data 7 and I ran for the nearest doorway."   
  
She was speaking into his shoulder, trying to keep her voice steady.   
  
"We found another labaratory room- this one full of more sustenance tanks. Most of them contained Fixed Ideas, clones, and other victims of Von Reichter. And.. we found, incredible as it sounds, the 5001st Cyber." She lifted her head off of his shoulder and pulled slightly away from him to look him in the eye.   
  
"Was it... alive?" Lucas asked hesitantly. Cybersix nodded.   
  
"I can't believe it myself. It was a she, and she had the tattoo. Cyber 0." She shook her head in disbelief. "My sister. I knew she was alive... There were bubbles in the tank. It was preserving her somehow. I'm not sure how Von Reichter managed to keep her alive in the tank all these years..."   
  
"But I thought that there were only 5000 Cybers created by Von Reichter..."   
  
"Apparently there was another. Why Von Reichter has kept her hidden, and alive, all this time doesn't make sense..."   
  
"Where is she now?" Lucas asked her. Cybersix looked away.   
  
"I didn't have time... We only had fifteen seconds to get out of there... We managed to find an exit and hid by the river when the explosion hit... Debris flew everywhere, along with sustenance from the pods and... remains." She shuddered. "I couldn't save her."   
  
"I'm sorry," Lucas whispered, as she reluctuantly withdrew from his arms and made her way over to the bed in the corner where Data 7 was watching the two of them through sleepy eyes.   
  
"You should... probably get some sleep," said Lucas, breaking the silence and heading towrds the door. "I doubt the school will be functioning tommorrow... so, do you... want me to come over? Or meet me somewhere?" Hearing nothing, he turned around, She was sound alseep, stretched out on the bead with Data 7 curled protectively curled against her. He stared at her sleeping figure for a few moments before leaving the room silently, shutting the door behind him. 


	3. Ruins

Cyber 0   
Chapter 3 : Ruins   
  


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AN: This is more of a filler chapter, I'm also experiemnting with different POVs in one chapter... Let's see how it turns out, hmm?   
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Cybersix woke up groggily the next morning, as the sun was beginning to rise. She was sprawled out on her bed, Data 7 sleeping beside her. very bruise and scratch from the previous day had started to ache, and she winced as she sat up slowly. She stole a glance at her alarm clock as she stood up shakily. It was only 6 AM, and she didn't think she could fall asleep again. Remembering Lucas, she considered going over to his apartment. _He'll kill me for waking him up, though..._ She heard Data 7 waking up behind her, and she turned to face her brother. _Should I go talk to Lucas, brother?_ Data 7 yawned and gave her his version of a shrug.   
  
_Why don't you call him? That is, unless the phone lines got knocked down._   
  
Cybersix pondered the suggestion. "I've never called Lucas as myself before," she realized out loud. Making up her mind, she reached for the phone. The steady sound of the dial tone welcomed her. "Well, at least the phone lines are working..." She dialed Lucas' number, her fingers shaking slightly. _What do I say to him if I wake him up? What do if he doesn't pick up... What if-"_   
  
"Hello?" Cybersix stopped her worried thoughts as Lucas answered.   
  
"Hello, Lucas.. It's me... I hope I didn't wake you up..."   
  
"No... No... I've been up since four in the morning... I couldn't sleep... I guess I'm not the only one who couldn't sleep. Either that, or you're planning on going to class today..." Lucas's attempt at a joke made her smile weakly.   
  
"Anyway.. About last night. I wanted to thank you for..." She paused. "For being there." Inwardly, she rebuked herself for how pathetic that had sounded.   
  
"I didn't see it as an option. Hey... I asked you last night, but you had fallen asleep... Do you want to meet somewhere... and talk?"   
  
"There isn't anything to talk about, Lucas."   
  
"You _do_ want to find out who Cyber 0 was, don't you?" Cybersix sighed.   
  
"Fine. I'll be over in an hour. Good-bye, Lucas... And thank you for your help."   
  
"'Bye... Adrian... uh... Cybersix..." Cybersix smiled weakly again as she hung up.   
  


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"Over here, you idiots!" Jose's bratty voice cut through the silence of the labratory ruins. "I'm over here!" The three Fixed Ideas that had survive the explosion were wanering cluelessly around what was left of Von Reichter's lab, looking for him. The first of the three found Jose wedged between two empty sustenance tanks, banging his fists against them in frustration.   
  
"There you are! Get me out of here!" The second Fixed Idea grabbed a hold of Jose's head and bega to pull. "No! you IDIOT! You'll rip my head off!" The Fixed Idea ignored him and kept pulling... until, finally, Jose popped out of the gap and landed on the ground. The boy glared venemously at the three Ideas, and straightened up before them. "Even though the lab is destroyed beyond repair, and my father is dead, we must relocate at my father's bigger labratory in South America. I doubt that any of you twits know how to fly an airplane..."   
  
The second Fixed Idea grunted a negative response. Its companions did the same. Jose groaned.   
  
"Then I think it's time you three figure out how!" snapped the angry child, at a loss for another way to get to Von Reichter's hidden labratory. "And we also still need to find Cybersix, and destroy her- if she isn't dead already." Jose pushed his way between the two Fixed Ideas, shoving them out of the way. "I'll go find somewhere for us to stay. Salvage anything you can from the ruins, and bottle as much as that sustenance as you can carry at once. Cybersix will most likely come here tonight to find some for herself." Jose grinned evilly in anticipation- they would finally capture Cybersix tonight. He set off towards the city, leaving the Fixed Ideas sifting through the mess behind him. 


	4. Discoveries and Deductions

Cyber 0   
Chapter 4 : Discoveries and Deductions

  
  
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AN: This is going to be the longest chapter yet! I think I'm going to start taking my time more now with each chapter, and wrting more. I also make a reference to the original Spanish comic in this chapter and more to come, revoling around Von reichter's main lab in South America.   
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Cybersix's limbs were feeling too stiff and sore to take the usual route over the roofs of Meridiana to Lucas's apartment. Instead, after she had dried off from her shower, she had dressed in Adrian's attire, said good-bye to the sleeping Data 7, and set off on foot.   
Even though the sun was shining, the blue skies couldn't repair the damage to their town, or the moods of the people Cybersix passed as she walked along the streets. Most of them were police officers surveying the damage and putting up yellow tape around the more severely damaged areas. She passed the school, not expecting to see anyone there; 7 in the morning was too early for most of the students she knew.   
Her thoughts drifted away from the depressing scenery around her, and towards the mysterious Cyber she had discovered not long ago. _Cyber 0,_ she mused to herself. _Von Reichter obviously kept her for some reason.... But what? And what if she's still alive?_ The thought startled her, and she quickened her pace towards Lucas's apartment. _Lucas said he might be able to help me... But how can he? Even I don't know what's going on..._   
  
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_Where is she?_ wondered Lucas, staring out the window at the rooftops before him. He had called her over an hour ago, and there was no sign of the familiar figure leaping around Meridiana. Well, what was left of them. There was a light knock on the door, and Lucas went to answer it.   
  
"I walked," said Cybersix, looking amused at the confused look on his face. It was strange to see her as half Adrian, half Cybersix. Though she was wearing Adrian's shirt, slacks, and jacket, her bangs flopped against her brow in their natural curl, and she was standing up straight, poised elegantly, as she greeted him.   
  
"Hey, Adrian..." He held the door open wider so she could slip past him. "I guess I should have realized you wouldn't be doing all that jumping."   
  
"And I'm not dressed for it," Adrian pointed out to him. "You asked me over the phone if I wanted to find out who that Cyber was that I saw in the lab... How?"   
  
Lucas shut the door behind them and went over to to the big table he often spent hours grading papers on, and sat down.   
  
"Well, first of all... Do you think Jose knows about her?" he askedd, thinking. Cybersix shrugged.   
  
"He could. Von Reichter could have told him, in case his life was put in danger... Or if he was killed. And Jose could know who she is... or what she's for." Cybersix began to page the length of Lucas's apartment.   
  
"How would Jose know what she was for, though? Would Von Reichter have told him who she was, what her purpose was..." He scartched his head in confusion. "I'm not getting any of this..."   
  
"Well, Jose _is_ a clone of Von Reichter... Which means he has a clone of Von Reichter's brain... So he _should_ know pretty much everything his father knew at the time Jose was created." She frowned. "But it seems to me that Jose didn't know about the forgotten Cyber... If Von Reichter had gone to all of this trouble to keep her hidden and trapped in that tank, you would think that she was pretty important... Maybe even important enough he'd tell Jose about her."   
  
Lucas thought about what she had just said. "Do you think she's still alive? She was in that tank for who knows how long..."   
  
"But it was full of sustenance. It might have been injected into her every month to keep her alive, or they could have revived her briefly and given it to her orally. I'm not placing my bets on this, but she could have survived the explosion."   
  
The biology teacher frowned. "But that stuff is a type of acid... extremely volatile and probably flammable... If the flames had hit the tank, most likely it would have shattered with the reaction..." Cybersix stopped in her pacing.   
  
"When the explosion died down, bits and pieces of the lab were scattered around the riverside. The force of the explosion could have made the sustenance tank land there, too." She started pacing again.   
  
"To say she is still there right now would be a bit of a stretch, Adrian. The debris could have landed anywhere within......" He paused, doing the math in his head. "Okay, it could have landed anywhere along the radius of the labratory... Adrian?"   
  
"I'll be along the river, Lucas," she called over her shoulder, Lucas sighed and grabbed his coat off of the back of the door.   
  
"Hey- Adrian! Wait up!"   
  
----   
  
Silence.   
  
Warmth.   
  
_Where am I?_   
  
She slowly opened her eyes, and winced her glass prison was caught in the sun's glare. She sat up slowly, relieved that there didn't seem to be any damage to herself. She felt a bit shaky, she was covered in the familiar green sustenance, and she was wearing what seemed to be a length of black fabric winding around her chest, torso and thighs. She was sitting in what seemed to be a shattered tank, large enough to hold a person her height and build, and sustencance was eating through the grass and weeds...   
  
Listening. She could hear water, and she looked past the shattered glass tank to see a slightly murky river snaking its way along the bank she was lying on. _Water..._ she thought longingly, and slowly, on unsteady legs, wandered towards the small river. She had just about reached the water's edge where a flash of light caught her eye. The sun was reflecting of another tank, identical to the one she had been in. She went over to it, and gasped. Inside was what seemed to be a dead creature. It was suspended in the tube, motionless. Looking around at her new vintage point, she could see ever more tanks- so shattered, others still intact- holding hideous creatures and clones.   
  
_Oh, God..._ she thought. _What has he done?_


	5. Hostage

Cyber 0 : Chapter 5

Cyber 0   
Chapter 5 : Hostage   
  
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"Julian! Julian!" The redheaded boy turned around as his friend Ikiko came running towards him, her pink kimono trailing behind her.   
  
"Hey, Ikiko! I'm surprised your brother let you come outside today!" Julian knew that her overprotective brother had kept her holed up in their apartment since the explosion.   
  
"Well, he can't keep me locked up forever!" She giggled, and the two children began to walk together along the cracked sidewalks.   
  
"What d'you think the explosion was?" Julian asked, as they stopped to swipe some apples off of an overturned market stall.   
  
"I don't know. What do you think it was, Julian?" Ikiko asked, turned to look at him as they walked.   
  
"I don't know, either. Maybe it was another monster... or aliens!"   
  
Ikiko began to giggle again. "Julian, you're so silly!" By now they had reached the outskirts of Meridiana, and were gazing across the spooky grounds before them. "Well, this looks like the end of the road- maybe we should mmph!" Her words were muffled as Julian put his hand over her mouth.   
  
_"Shhhh!"_ he hissed. "I hear someone." He pulled her behind a large piece of crumbling wall, and removed his hand, signalling for her to be quiet.   
  
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"Boss?" Techno 19 handed a large cardboard box to Jose. "This is all we could salvage from the wreckage of the lab." Jose snatched the box from the Techno and greedily began to sift through its contents.   
  
"This is mostly sustenance, you idiots! Didn't you find anything use- Hm, what's this?" Jose's eyes lit up as he opened up the small book. "You!" he snapped, looking up at the Techno. "Where did you find this?"   
  
The Techno stood thinking for a minute. "I believe it was between the walls of part of the labratory... The explosion cracked the wall and we were able to see and retrieve it."   
  
"Do you realize wht this is, you idiot? This is the recipe for sustenance!" Jose flipped excitedly through the worn pages. "Of course, I have no idea where we can get half of these ingredients... but Cybersix doesn't know, either."   
  
Techno 19 spoke up. "Boss... what if we could use the recipe as bait? Chances are Cybersix will end up trailing us to the labratory, anyway. If we could capture her at the lab then we'd be killing two birds with one stone- and we could start setting up there, and finish your father's work."   
  
Jose rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Excellent idea! I'm glad I thought of it!" he exclaimed, ignoring the confused look on the Techno's face. "19, find those two Fixed Ideas and find a boat or a canoe. We're travelling to the labratory by boat, since I don't trust any of you with something with the ability to fly."   
  
"Yes, Boss. . but the idea about the-"   
  
"Be QUIET and do as I say!" snapped Jose, and hopped onto a large block of cracked masonry to keep an eye on his minions. _Success will mine at last..._ he thought. _I'll prove to Father that I am better than him, by catching Cybersix!_ He stretched and shifted to find a more comfortable position... and felt the wall began to shake and crumble.   
  
"HELP! You idiots! I'll be crushed!" he screamed, as the well crumbled to the ground, and found himself landing hard on his behind in dust and pieces of rubble. He growled, stood up, dusting pieces of rock on him... And then, he spotted Julan and Ikiko, freeing themselves from the debris. "Hey, you! Stop right there!" He grabbed Julian by the collar of his shirt, and yanked him towards him.   
  
"Ikiko, RUN!" shouted Julian, and the black-haired girl took off into the town, after a moment of hesitation.   
  
"Well, well. if it isn't the brat from the streets," chuckled Jose, still holding onto Julian's shirt. "It seems we have even more bait for Cybersix... You're coming on a long boat ride with us, brat."   
  
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"Old McDonald had a farm, ee-i-ee-i-o... And on this farm he had a cat, ee-i-ee-i-o..." Techno 19 stared to warbled the lyrics to "Old McDonald" as the old canoe had started to float down the river that would take them to the jungle, where the labratory was.   
  
"Shut UP!" screamed Jose from Julian's lap. The midget clone had been forced to sit in Julian's lap, since the canoe was only a four-seater. "Shut up or I'll be forced to gag YOU as well!"   
  
As the singing ceased, Julian grunted something from behind the gag in his mouth.   
  
"what was that?" teased Jose. "I can't hear- AUUGHHH!" Julian had succeeded in shifting his weight so that Jose toppled off of his lap and into the murky, weed infested water. Jose started to flail around madly. "Help! I can't swim! You idiots, get me out of here!" Fixed Idea 61 bent over and plucked the dripping wet, weed-covered boy from the water, and deposited him on the floor of the canoe.   
  
"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round..." The Techno started to sing again, accompanied by the grunts of the Fixed Ideas. Julian sighed and curled up on the hard wooden seat of the canoe.   
  
_I hope Ikiko's safe... Maybe she found Cybersix and told her about Jose... _ Julian groaned as the sound of the singing monsters grew louder. _And I hope these guys lose their voices soon..._   
  


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[Last Chapter][1] : [Table of Contents][2]

   [1]: c04.html
   [2]: story.html



	6. Untitled

Cyber 0   
Chapter 7 : ???   
  
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"And now he has Julian, and I don't know where he went!" sniffled Ikiko, ssitting next to Yashimoto around the table in Cybersix's apartment. Lucas was also sitting down, head in his hands, listening to Ikiko tell her story about her encounter with Jose, and Julian's kidnapping. Cybersix was the only one standing, and was repeating Ikiko's story to herself, trying to think of where Von Reichter's main labratory was.   
  
"Maybe Data 7 can sniff them out," suggested Lucas, half-joking. Data 7's ears perked up, and she glared at Lucas.   
  
"He's a panther, Lucas- not a bloodhound." Cybersix reminded him. She snapped her fingers. "But I think I know where we can get one. Lucas, see if you can contact the Meridiana Police about getting a bloodhound... Do whatever it takes, but it's the best chance we have of picking up Julian's trail." Lucas nodded. "Yashimoto, Ikiko- you go out and see if you can find some canoes around the harbour we could rent or use. I'm taking her shopping." She jerked a thumb at the closed bathroom door. The other three said their good-byes and left to go complete their assigned errands. Cybersix closed the door after them and sank down into a now-vacated chair.   
  
The bathroom door opened and Cyber 0 stepped out, hair damp from her recent shower, but still plaited neatly down her back. She looked around at the empty room.   
  
"What'd I miss?" She looked at Cybersix, confused.   
  
"I'll tell you on the way. We're going shopping."   
  
"Shopping?" Cyber 0 blinked. "I don't think this is the best time to go shopping... Jose is still out there and-"   
  
"Trust me, we both need a new change of clothes," Cybersix said wryly, pulling the other girl out the door. "You can pay m e back once we teach little Jose a lesson, once and for all."   
  


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"You won't get away with this, you brat!" muttered Julian as the Fixed Idea threw him into one of the two canvas tents that had been erected on the damp vine-covered soil. The Fixed Idea ignored him and bent down to tighten the ropes around Julian's wrists.   
  
"Oh yes, we will!" laughed Jose, strutting into the tent and shooing the Idea out. "Now that you and your little girlfriend know about our plans-"   
  
"She's not my girlfriend, Four-Eyes!" snapped Julian, cutting off Jose's bragging.   
  
"Arrrrrrrrgh!" growled Jose, annoyed that he had been interrupted. "Techno!" The Tencho came into the tent, carrying a bag of supplies. "Gag him!" Julian's eyes narrowed angrily as the Techno stuffed a rag into his mouth, and taped it securely in place. "Ah, the sound of silence," Jose teased, hopping around in excitement of having the poor boy under his control. "If you're thinking that your friend Cybersix will show up and save the day, then we're on the same wavelength." He grinned. "Of course you know that she'll be after _this-_" Jose pulled a worn leather book from under his khaki shirt- "which contains the key to what might save her life. Your girlfriend probably ran crying to Cybersix and that idiot detective brother of hers." Jose went up to Julian so that his nose was touching the other boy's. "And then, I'll finally show my father who's the smartest- by killing Cybersix." Jose sneered at Julian, and for the first time, Julian began to have his doubts. Jose was perfectly capable of killing him then and there- he had weapons: The gun Julian had seen in the box of supplies, along with several knives and the machetes they had used on their way up the trail.   
  
"Boss? Do you want me to stay here?" asked the Techno, gesturing pointedly at Julian, who was staring at Jose with anger in his eyes.   
  
"I don't think our guest will try anything funny, but yes, stay and guard him! If he tries to escape- kill him!" snapped Jose. "Even if we don't have him as bait, we still have Father's notes about sustenance to lure Cybersix here." With that, he turned on his heels and strutted out, closing the tent flap behind him.   
  
Julian sighed and managed to roll over onto his side, legs and arms still painfully bound. He could make out the reddish hue of the setting sun filtering in between the vines and trees and casting a shadow across the canvas wall. He closed his eyes and settled down onto the hard fabric floor, and waited for sleep to overcome him.   
  


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"Hello, Lucas... Yashimoto... Ikiko," Cybersix said, opening her apartment door after hearing them knocking on it. She watched as Lucas's eyes widened, seeing her dressed in the second-skin bodysuit, cape, and fedora once more. "I took her shopping."   
  
"Yeah. There wasn't much time to enjoy it, though," said Cyber 0 from the window. "Between thoughts of Jose's evil plans and worrying about your friend Julian, that is." She turned to face them, dressed in her new wardrobe. From the waist down, her outfit wasn't much different from Cybersix's. Her legs, slightly longer than Cybersix's, were encased in the familiar shiny leather attached to the six inch stilettos. But her upper half was where Cyber 0's outfit differed from Cybersix's, in the strapless top attached to the rest of the bodysuit. The only thing that seemed to be holding the top up were armbands attached to the shirt at her underarms. The cape was no less magnificent than that of Cybersix's, though its inside was of a deep midnight blue.   
  
"You two look ready to save the world," spoke up Yashimoto, his eyes moving from one of them to the other. Lucas was simply staring at Cybersix, then at Cyber 0, then at Cybersix. Dressed in those amazing bodysuits, the resemblance was even more clear, except for Cyber 0 was slightly taller than Cybersix, and she wore her hair differently. Cybersix caught his eye and he snapped out of his thoughts.   
  
"Well, uh, it looks like we're ready to go," he said. "We have two canoes, enough room for all of us if we split up. Yashimoto found a dog the police are willing to let us use for the trip... Oh, and we have food." His eyes twinkled briefly at that realization. "I think we're set."   
  
"All right, then, let's go," nodded Cybersix, leading the way out of the apartment once more.   
  


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"It'll be really dark in a few hours," announced Cybersix from the canoe in the lead. Behind her sat Lucas and Data 7, staring at the dense rainforest around them. A bird cried out sharply from way above their heads, and was followed by the answering call of the other forest-dwelling birds.   
  
"I guess they aren't used to visitors," Yashimoto mused from the canoe, eyeing the warily staring at him. Ikiko was sitting in his lap, being there not much room in the second canoe with Cyber 0 at the front, oar in hand.   
  
"Are we there yet?" asked Ikiko, staring in wonder at the trees and brightly-colored birds.   
  
Cybersix turned and spoke to the little girl in the canoe behind them. "No, we aren't. We have a way to go, Ikiko." She smiled at the child. "Why don't you try and get some sleep." She then looked at Yashimoto. "I told you it probably wasn't a good idea to bring her along..." Yashimoto grinned sheepishly and yawned.   
  
"Don't worry, she'll behave. I think she just wants to rescue Julian and save the day." He yawned once more. "I think I'll take a leaf out of her book and get some sleep myself, Cybersix... unless you need me." His eyes drooped as he said this.   
  
"Don't worry about it, Yashimoto," she said. "Get some sleep. We have a long ways to go..." 


End file.
